Day 3 in Ireland - Irish dance and song

We made it! All three groups made their way to Ireland. On Saturday evening, the largest group, consisting of Mrs. Lohse, Mrs. Burkart, and Mrs. Meissner, managed to catch a flight to Dublin and spent the night in our accommodations in Balbriggan, which is located north of Dublin on the coast of Ireland. The small group led by Mr. Kammel traveled to Essen by train on Saturday, where they stayed in a hotel overnight. On Sunday morning, they headed to Düsseldorf Airport and took off for Dublin at 10 o'clock. The group over 18 had organized a hotel near Frankfurt Airport and took a plane to Dublin at 7:25 am on Sunday. So, by 2 pm on Sunday afternoon, our whole group was gathered again in rainy Balbriggan.

 
In the cafe 'The La-La' of the Irish Institute of Music and Song (IIMS), we were provided with a delicious lunch. Then, the first activity of the day began: an Irish dance workshop. The dance teacher, Anne, was a powerhouse who wanted us all to have fun and learn as much as possible in the 1.5 hours we had. She was accompanied by her two daughters, who also taught us, as well as two of her dance students who volunteered to demonstrate the steps for us that Sunday afternoon. With an energetic voice, Anne first directed half of us around the room. We lined up in two rows and learned two basic steps. Then, the men went left, the women went right, and we met in the middle. Right hands grasped, and then the steps were danced as a couple. The rest of us who were watching definitely had fun. Of course, afterwards, we switched, and the others got to enjoy watching the efforts of the dancers.
After that, we got an idea of what a real Irish dance looks like. The two dance students, Isabella and Eva, each performed a dance. 12-year-old Isabella danced the first Irish dance that you learn as an Irish dancer, and 16-year-old Eva performed a more advanced dance. We were very impressed by how light-footed and rhythmic the two glided across the floor of the hall. Ours definitely didn't look like that :D
After that, it was our turn again. In circles of eight people each, we learned a dance with the basic steps we had practiced before, as well as position and direction changes and rhythmic clapping. Finally, 20 of us formed a large circle and learned an Irish folk dance. We all had a lot of fun and would like to thank Anne and her team again. That was exactly what we needed after the odyssey of the past two days!

 
After the dance lesson, there was a generous barbecue at 'The La-La'. Strengthened, we then followed with a two-hour choral workshop with our coach, Michael. Michael works at the IIMS and is a choir director himself. It was clear that music and choral singing are his passions. At the beginning, we sang 'Verleih uns Frieden' (Grant us peace) by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy for him, and his first words afterwards were how happy and moved he was that we could sing together as such a large choir, especially after Ireland had been in one of the toughest lockdowns for the past two years. Together with Michael, we worked on the dynamics of the piece and on following the conducting of Mr. Kammel better. We decided to sing 'Ubi caritas' by Maurice Durufle as an a cappella piece. Michael was very concerned that we understand the meaning of the text and translate it into the singing with emotions. Less important words should be sung softer, and strong and distinctive words should be sung powerfully and expressively. We should also bring more dynamics and emotions into the next piece, 'The road home' by Michael Dennis Browne. For this, we should mentally put ourselves in the situation of the people who fled from Ukraine and had to leave their home behind. After this emotional piece, we put the sheet music aside, and Michael taught us a song that is known in every Irish pub. This piece definitely brought good vibes. Finally, we sang the traditional Irish song 'I'll tell Me Ma', which was a great ending to the workshop. As a thank you to Michael, we performed 'Rock Mi' for him and said goodbye.

After a short rehearsal with Mr. Kammel and planning for tomorrow, we were then dismissed for the rest of the evening. For most of us, it was off to bed fairly quickly because the lack of sleep from the past two days was starting to catch up. Some of us went to the beach and enjoyed a beautiful sunset there. Definitely a successful end to the unfortunately very short stay at the IIMS in Balbriggan.